Football: Select Player Quotes

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University football player quotes from Tuesday evening’s media session. The Mountaineers face Cincinnati this Saturday, Nov. 13, at noon.

Joe MadsenOn the offensive line’s mindset:I think we’re alright, we just need to regain our composure, come out and keep fighting like we always do. There will always be mistakes and things are going to happen that you can’t control, but we need to try and control them the best we can.

On the criticism the offensive line has received:It’s not like we’re taking all of the criticism. Everyone is taking it, it’s just the line’s job to protect and give him time and sometimes that doesn’t happen. I wouldn’t say we’re taking all of the blame, but it happens.

On how to keep moving forward:You need to keep on grinding and keep clawing to get those extra inches.

Geno SmithOn his new running tendency:I do what’s best for the team; obviously teams are playing us differently than they did with Jarrett (Brown) and Pat (White). They understand that my first option is not to run, so they’re taking away some of the things with Noel (Devine), and I need to relieve that pressure off of him and make the defense respect me as well.

On the change that the defenses are making:When we first came out, defense did not know what to expect out of me. I think they played us the same way they did last year and me being a pass-first quarterback, it exploited things and we did well in the passing game.

On the art of running:You need to be smart. You can’t be out there trying to run guys over or doing senseless things. That’s putting the team in jeopardy and not to say we don’t have backups, but if your starting quarterback goes down, it hurts the team.

Bruce IrvinThe differences in the bye weeks:We lost to LSU. You never want to lose, but it was LSU and then we lost to UConn and it came out of nowhere. We have been preparing much harder now that we lost to UConn than after we lost to LSU.

On Cincinnati’s mobile quarterbacks:It’s like playing B.J. Daniels. You need to keep containment and play your assignments. We did pretty good against B.J. and everybody played their gaps and stayed home where everyone was supposed to be.

On a possible conference title:Win. We have to win out and we can’t lose anymore. Everybody’s mentality is we have to win out and hopefully it will work out like it’s supposed to.

Sidney GloverOn the bye week goal:After losing two straight, our main focus is to get things in order and figure out our problems because we have a great team, a good staff and good players. We just need to figure out what is going on to fix these problems.

On whether the team pays attention to outsiders:I get the school paper and I read it, but I don’t pay attention to it all and I don’t really interact with students too much when I’m downtown in classes and they try to give me their opinion. We all know what’s here and what our goals were in fall camp.